Chinchero Weaving Village

Chinchero is where most visitors to the Sacred Valley get the weaving demonstration, and the good cooperatives do it properly: washing raw alpaca fleece with saqta, a root that lathers like soap; spinning on a drop spindle; dyeing with cochineal - the insect that lives on prickly pear and produces reds ranging to purple depending on what is added to the bath - and with chilca, tara, indigo and other plant sources; then weaving on a backstrap loom, the warp tensioned between a post and the weaver's body, producing the pallay patterns particular to this area. Several associations operate in the village, some genuinely community-run with the weavers keeping the income, others more commercial. The difference matters, and asking who owns the workshop is reasonable. Prices for real handwoven pieces are high because a good manta takes weeks, and that is the honest price.

What to look for

• The washing - raw fleece cleaned with saqta root, which lathers like soap.
• The dyeing - cochineal reds and plant dyes demonstrated in the pot.
• The backstrap loom - warp tensioned against the weaver's body.
• The pallay - the pattern vocabulary particular to this area.

When to go

April to October. One to two hours. Mornings are quieter; mid-afternoon brings the Sacred Valley tour groups.

Before you go

Every demonstration ends in a sale, which is how the cooperatives fund themselves. Some workshops are commercial operations paying weavers little - ask who runs it. Genuine handwoven work is expensive for good reason. At 3,760 metres and cold.

Nearby

The Chinchero archaeological site and church are in the same village; Maras and Moray are north.